Closed captioning is a system used to display text on a television or video screen, which text typically includes a transcription of the audio portion of a program as it is being viewed. Closed captioning may thus be used by persons with hearing impairments to allow them to better enjoy and comprehend a program they are viewing.
For analog television transmission, the closed caption standard is EIA-608, and for digital television transmission, the closed caption standard is EIA-708B. In each case, closed caption data is created by transcribing the particular program's script, text, or other information, and is encoded into the video signal, which integrated signal is then transmitted to broadcasters for transmission to end users.
A shortcoming remains, however, in attempting to transmit a single program to different areas where the populations speak different languages. While closed captioning content may be encoded into a signal delivered to a particular area serving speakers of one language, it may be incomprehensible to other members of the population that do not speak such language, whether hearing impaired or not. For broadcasters, the technical challenge of simultaneously transmitting various different versions of the same program in different languages is not desirable, as it adds administrative burden and cost that outweigh the benefit that might be realized by transmitting multiple versions of the same program. Thus, there remains a need for a system and method that would allow a single video transmission to include multiple closed caption streams in different languages so that a broadcaster may meet the closed caption viewing needs of a diverse language population without incurring the unmanageable administrative burdens and costs associated with the production of multiple versions of the same program.